What is it with Fructose?

I have been doing a lot of reading about nutrition for the last several years.   The latest and greatest weight loss books in particular always grab my attention.  I must read what they have to say.  They all claim to be experts. They all have proof that there method works best. Call me skeptical.  All of them can't be right, Can they?  We are in the age of  EXTREME everything.  Immediate gratification, give it to me now.   It's seems like everyone has to lose weight as quickly as possible.  We are already half way sold just because we desire it so much.  Experiment as much as we can, but we have to be smart about it.   Good advice is good advice.  When it sounds too good to be true it usually is not true.


Fruit is a bit of a sore spot for many nutritionists.  Or so it seems.  More and more I have been running across the "sound advice" to stay away from fruit.  Never eat fruit.  It is worse than sugar.  It will make you diabetic or obese.   ...then they discuss there supposed proof.  Maybe it is just me?  If you are going to put down fruit for its lack of (?)nutritional contribution then do your studies on fruit, ....NOT FRUIT JUICE!  Every time I read about experiments with fruit juice I cringe.  How can they conclude that whole fruit is bad?  As soon as you juice anything, in my opinion, it is no longer whole.  Many of the benefits are lost, and we almost always end up consuming mostly sugar in the form of fructose.  The natural balance altered by juicing.

Cutting down on fruit can have its benefits in weight loss.  That is not rocket science.  There is a fair bit of sugar (or fructose) in all fruit.  Unrefined, natural sugar.  Eat less fruit if we must.  I'm just saying that if we are having problems with our weight it is highly unlikely it is do to eating too many bananas.  Eating whole fruit is beneficial in maintaining  healthy energy levels.  It's better to eat them than most other things found in pantries across the world.

All fruit is designed for human consumption.  It attracts our attention naturally.  Our bodies digest it well and the nutrients get delivered to our blood stream relatively quickly, making it great for energy.  I for one will never stay clear of anything whole that nature has to offer.  Eating only fruit or no fruit at all is just too extreme for me.  I will stick to moderation.  After all, it has kept me healthy for years.

Understanding the Food Pyramid

Nutrition has become my passion in recent years  I have always loved food.  Controlling my love of food was the issue.  It made me feel too good.  Just like a drug.  My emotional health seemed to depend on my eating very fattening processed food .  It sometimes seemed like the only solution to stop gaining fat, was to starve.   Take it from me, it is not the answer to any problem.  .  Food is necessary for all to survive.  So going without it is not an option. 

So what is eating healthy?  The answer to this question turns out to be much more complex than I had ever realized.  That is why I must to start at the very beginning.  For me that is the Food Pyramid.  I now refer to it as the Standard American Diet.   The food pyramid shows us graphically what foods we should eat and in what proportion. At the base of this pyramid we have the largest area which signifies that the greatest number of calories should be obtained from these foods.  Here we have our grains such as bread, pasta and rice, eat 6-11 servings per day.  Fruit and vegetables are found on the next, slightly smaller level, meaning, less calories from these foods.   A mere 5-10 servings are suggested per day.  Even less room as we move to the next level of the triangle.  This is where we will find our proteins.  Dairy products like cheese, milk and yogurt are here.  Along side are other protein sources such as animal proteins, nuts, beans and legumes..  Combined we are looking at roughly 5-6 servings everyday.  What is left?  Not much.  Very little sugar and fat. Barely enough to signify a serving size. This is due to the fact that by consuming the other foods you will be getting your required amounts of fat and sugars.
 

The chart appears to be straight forward enough. Quite a simple way to depict nutritional requirements.  Yet, when I was younger I remained confused about the whole thing.  Growing years aren't necessarily knowing years, and we often don't get the importance of nutrients in our food.  Food is food, and we eat what we like.

Whole grains like quinoa, brown rice and oatmeal are good choices.  Some pasta and a serving of bread are alright.  I consider potatoes and other root vegetables to be in this category.  SAD is groups them with vegetables.   I limit myself to one serving of bread (the more fiber the better) per day.  Even though bread may contain whole grains it is not a whole food.  Show me a bread tree.  Vitamins and minerals that we get from bread are added into the mix.  We need naturally occurring nutrients so that our bodies can absorb them..

Vegetables and fruit are our best friends.  Less calories naturally unless you eat a lot of potatoes.  All root vegetables tend to be a lot more calorie dense than other vegetables.  At lease they are nutrient dense calories.  Other vegetables like broccoli and asparagus and leafy greens have very few calories.   Combining vegetables while you cook them can easily make them more appealing.   Salads can be an adventure in flavors if we let them.  Thinking outside the box.  Sometimes I will do a stir fry of onions with tomatoes and I use different tricks to enhance the flavor.  Throw that on top of our raw salad and add a little balsamic vinegar.  We can make it as wild as we like just getting to know our favorite spices,  I have learned to embrace fruit for there natural sweetness.  Natures own treat.

Choosing very lean proteins is important.  There is a little, to a lot, of fat in most of our favorite meats.  Fatty fish is the only exception.  This is very beneficial fat and it is unlikely you will consume to much of this fat.  Beans and nuts are also high in fats. Again, a much more tolerable and beneficial fat.  Skinless chicken breasts are very low in fat and are a good choice in the meat department.  We must be careful how we prepare our lean proteins though.  It would be very easy to add unhealthy fat, if prepared  in a carefree manner.  You could boil or poach your chicken breasts.  I have thrown seasoning in boiling water while cooking breasts this way. I enjoy the taste.  Many people would not like them prepared that way.  Baking without fat, using only spices can make for flavorful chicken.  Stir frying with cooking spray and chicken broth and balsamic vinegar and more spices works well for me.   While stir frying I usually through in lots of vegetables.  This adds lots of flavor, moisture and more of those natural vitamins and minerals that I love so much.     



  ......to be continued

The Choice is Ours

The freedom to choose.   What a luxury that is.  So let's be indulgent eat something that makes our self  feel good.  We deserve it, we long for it.  It's life's greatest reward.  That's something I would tell myself all the time, everyday and many times a day.  I would justify my need for every type of fatty, sweet and calorie dense food I could.  I would eat ice cream like it was going out of style chased with cookies.  Food truly has been my big compulsion all of my life.   Why does bad have to taste so good? 

My weight was really high when I was younger(10-17 yrs 180-200lbs).  Although my self esteem was always very low, I still had to convince myself to go on.  After all I was not dead, just feeling under appreciated.  I convinced myself that I wasn't that bad. Eventually I believed that I was supposed to be large.  That is what nature had intended for me.  The proof was there.  After all, I wasn't getting any smaller.  So I coped..  It's what I had to learn to do.  Feelings of being weak and incapable held me back because I let them.  I needed to feel that I was weak in order to validate myself. Proof that I should be fat and unloved.  I could prove anything I set out to prove. It's too bad that I had to focus on the negative aspects of  my life with a need to magnify the difficult issues.

The battle went on right into my 40's.  Still convincing myself that all the wrong things were right. Now statistically I was in the norm.   Most people seem to be overweight these days.  I fit right in. When the proof is all around you it is pretty hard to ignore.  The reward is the killer.  Satisfaction lingers, It doesn't dissolve in your mouth.  It doesn't cause you heart disease and high cholesterol.  I don't have the need to be normal, or even like everybody else.  Life is not over and I am not sitting around waiting to die.

I now see the beauty in all those other choices that I neglected to look at for most of my life.  Fresh whole foods are true rewards that multiply throughout the course of our lives.  By taking care of our bodies we enable ourselves to reap benefits that we dream about.

Confidence has been the greatest reward

Adding plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit into the mix played a big part in reaching my goals.  I needed to be energized by my meals so that I could workout hard and recover well.  I remember discovering so many foods that I had never heard of before.  Quinoa is a staple in  my home now, an ancient grain that it a true nutritional powerhouse.  Maintaining  a good balance with all the food groups is beneficial in providing the energy I desire.  Lean proteins, grains and legumes, vegetables and fruit have become the normal flavors of the day for me.

Time Flies By

after working out for two months

very determined to reach my goals

must not become discouraged

It's real easy to get busy these days with work and relationships.  Where to find the time to look for new inspiration. The internet if full of resources for anyone starting out.  Just do a Google search for any kind of help you need.  You may be amazed at the number of resourceful websites there are.  We may be unique in some ways but often our struggles are not.  There is always someone out there struggling with the same issues that we are.  Learning about how others found strength helps me very much.   No matter how difficult it becomes it is important to stick to those good choices and let them infect the rest of our life.

Staying Focused

Everyday I march myself to the gym in the freezing cold weather.   I must remind myself that taking action is very satisfying and character building.  Appreciating the journey is all part of it. I need to adopt a new healthier lifestyle.

The training sessions continue to be very intense.  I'm finding that I am filled with doubt about whether or not I can continue to keep up to this pace that my trainer has set for me. Now I have to go it alone for a few days while he is away. I had a difficult time going through the routine without guidance and thought I was doing everything wrong.

It is amazing to me how much, becoming frustrated, can interfere with accomplishing a task.   The rest of my time on my own was spent doing cardio as to avoid the frustration of weight training.

When my trainer returned, I continued on with my resistance program.  Through the next weeks I continued to be dedicated to changing my life.  I had made up my mind to get to the gym six days a week.  My dedication never wavered. 

The food I was eating was in keeping with my goals for weight loss.   I didn't think I had to adjust my food intake.  Quickly, I began to realize what an important part nutrition would play in my progress.  Paying a trainer would not be worthwhile if I didn't see results.  The results could not come without paying close attention to my diet.

Always challenging in the beginning

Whether it be creating a blog or getting started on a fitness program many of us find it difficult in the beginning.

When I began my journey back in Jan of 2005 I was so afraid of failing.  I had tried before to get into the gym habit with no success.  It had seemed like a pipe dream that I could never totally realize.  Luckily for me I had some extra money to put towards a personal trainer to add to my motivation.  Weighing in at 222 lbs at 6' with no muscle tone whatsoever, I wasn't sure what I was in for.

Jan 11 was my first ever workout with a trainer.  The first day was an intense interval day.  It was all confusing to me. Hearing the names of the exercises and equipment only heightened my insecurities.  Listening to my trainer got me through the hour long workout feeling like I was incredibly out of shape.  Determined not to get discouraged I scheduled training sessions 3 times a week.  I decided to do intense cardio for the other three days at the gym. Using some tips I had picked up from reading the book "Body for Life" I felt that intense cardio was the way to go.

The plan is all set and I am ready to go to the gym six days a week.